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Electric cooker switches

Arran Cameron
I hope that this doesn't come across as a daft question...


Why do most electric cooker switches have an in-built socket? Do analogous cooker switches exist in other countries that use different types of mains sockets?


I used to think that the socket was for plugging in a gas cooker electric ignition, but there is no real reason for having a separate circuit from the ring main for this.
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    In the middle of cooking Christmas dinner with every heating element on full blast, an in-law demands a cup of tea. The kettle is plugged into the socket on the cooker switch, overloading the supply, which pops the 30A fuse in the consumer unit. Now, you do have some spare 30A fuse wire, don't you?!



    Highly unlikely - just look at the curves for BS 3036 fuses. - a 30A fuse may well carry over 50A for a couple of hours before opening - even if the fusewire was already warm, a few minutes it takes to boil a kettle isn't going worry it (similar for the thermal element of MCBs). The old 100% of the first 10A, 30% of the remainder + 5A for a socket rule has proved it worth for probably many millions of Christmas dinners over the best part of a century - even during the times when my grandmother's generation would boil veg for 20mins at full boil with no lid.

     

    Of course, there is no reason why a Commando socket should not be used.



    Except that it would never physically fit behind the cooker. Ditto for most other 32A+ connectors.


      - Andy.
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    In the middle of cooking Christmas dinner with every heating element on full blast, an in-law demands a cup of tea. The kettle is plugged into the socket on the cooker switch, overloading the supply, which pops the 30A fuse in the consumer unit. Now, you do have some spare 30A fuse wire, don't you?!



    Highly unlikely - just look at the curves for BS 3036 fuses. - a 30A fuse may well carry over 50A for a couple of hours before opening - even if the fusewire was already warm, a few minutes it takes to boil a kettle isn't going worry it (similar for the thermal element of MCBs). The old 100% of the first 10A, 30% of the remainder + 5A for a socket rule has proved it worth for probably many millions of Christmas dinners over the best part of a century - even during the times when my grandmother's generation would boil veg for 20mins at full boil with no lid.

     

    Of course, there is no reason why a Commando socket should not be used.



    Except that it would never physically fit behind the cooker. Ditto for most other 32A+ connectors.


      - Andy.
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